Genitive Variation in English. Conceptual Factors in Synchronic and Diachronic Studies

这本专著是对一种特殊类型的语法变异，即英语中的属格变异（s-属格vs. of-属格）的实证研究。本研究的主要实证发现是，与英语向更分析性发展的总体趋势相反，从中古英语晚期到现代英语，更综合的s属格又变得更有生产力，本研究试图解释这种（乍一看）特殊的变化。在一项实验研究中，各种概念因素对属格结构（即生命性，话题性和所有格关系）的选择的影响进行了研究，并评估了它们的相对重要性。(In在这方面，本研究还介绍了一种具体的方法来分析-和权衡-的相互作用的几个竞争因素）。此外，它通过对比现代英语实验数据和历史语料库数据（早期现代英语），以一种有趣的和新的方式结合了现在和过去的英语研究。一个心理语言学的方法来语法的变化和变化，看看是什么让扬声器选择一个属格结构，而不是其他的，和观察到的变化是占经济驱动的语言变化（什么是最佳的语言用户同步，成为更频繁的历时）。它还表明，在哪种方式的结构变化的所有格`s从一个完全成熟的屈折变化，以一个附格以及新的限定词功能的s-属格关系到所观察到的新的生产力的s-属格，并以何种方式可能（去）语法化过程可以在工作中，在这种发展。

This monograph is an empirical study of a particular type of grammatical variation, i.e. the genitive variation in English (s-genitive vs. of-genitive). The main empirical finding of this study is that, counter to the general development of English towards more analyticity, the more synthetic s-genitive has become more productive again from late Middle English to Present-day English, and the present study sets out to account for this (at first glance) peculiar change. In an experimental study the impact of various conceptual factors on the choice of genitive construction (i.e. animacy, topicality, and possessive relation) is investigated and their relative importance is assessed. (In this respect, this study also introduces a specific way of analyzing - and weighing - theinteraction of several competing factors). Moreover, it combines the study of present and past English in an intriguing and new way by comparing Present-day English experimental data with historical corpus data (early Modern English). A psycholinguistic approach to grammatical variation and change is introduced, looking at what makes speakers choose one genitive construction rather than the other, and the observed change is accounted for in terms of economically-driven language change (what is optimal for the language user synchronically, becomes more frequent diachronically). It is also shown in which way the structural change of possessive `s from a fully-fledged inflection to a clitic as well as the new determiner function of the s-genitive relate to the observed new productivity of the s-genitive, and in which way possible (de)grammaticalization processes could be at work in this development.